


Boys in the Trees

by sarken



Category: Fake News RPF, Real News RPF
Genre: Aftermath, Cereal, FNFF OT, Late Night Conversations in Kitchens, Lesbian Character, Milk as an Obvious Metaphor, OT5, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-28
Updated: 2009-10-28
Packaged: 2017-10-09 22:56:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/92494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarken/pseuds/sarken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After sleeping with Jon, Stephen, and Anderson, Keith and Rachel try to figure out what it means.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Boys in the Trees

Keith leaves the pile of sleeping, naked men in the bedroom and sneaks into the hall. He needs to get out of there, needs to find somewhere to breathe. He almost wishes he still smoked, that he could come up with an excuse to go outside and stare into all the space the sky has to offer. Instead, he makes his way into the kitchen.

Rachel is there, leaning against the counter and eating a bowl of cereal, a drop of milk running down her chin. She grins at him. "I thought you'd be sawing wood with the others," she says. "What gives?"

Keith reaches out and wipes the milk off Rachel's face. "Couldn't sleep," he says, obviously, redundantly. "Too much wood, sawed and otherwise." He thinks she'll understand. He needs her to understand.

"Second thoughts?" she asks, spoon halfway to her lips. Milk drips off the spoon and back into the bowl.

The red box of Lucky Charms sits on the counter and Keith picks it up, shoving his hand inside. "Something like that," he says, coming up with a handful of cereal. He picks out the marshmallows and pours the rest into Rachel's bowl. "You?"

Rachel shakes her head and chews a little faster, swallowing hard and early. Making a face, she clears her throat. "Just the munchies."

There's a joke about exercise and burnt calories that he fights down with a handful of marshmallows. "That's all?" He wipes his hand on his shorts.

"That's all."

The cereal bowl between them, Keith kisses Rachel with closed eyes and a hand on her hip. She has the sweet-stale taste of cereal and milk on her breath, and the spoon rattles in the bowl as she leans in, her hand finding its place at the crook of his elbow. She smiles against his lips and he pulls away, his face hot.

Leaning back against the counter, Rachel strokes his biceps. "What was that for?"

Rachel's smile never wavers, and Keith knows she expects something between _I love you_ and _thank you_ and _just for being you_, but instead he gives her, "I think I might be gay."

Her smile falls into a frown. "Okay," she says slowly. "You know that's okay, Keith, right? I mean, lots of people figure it out when they're your... Not everyone knows when they're a teenager."

Keith shakes his head. "Not like this." He takes off his glasses and folds them up. "That was a lot of dick, Rach," he says, and even without his glasses, he can see her blush.

"Yeah," she says, looking at the floor, kicking at it with one of her bare feet.

"Too much," he says. "How are you okay?"

Rachel shrugs and scoops up a spoonful of cereal. She stares at it for a moment before letting it fall back into the milk. "I don't know. It's you guys."

"That wasn't enough for me," he says, and when she looks at him, eyes shining with confusion, he takes the cereal bowl from her hands and sets it aside. "I think I'm a lesbian."

She either laughs or coughs as she crosses her arms around her stomach. "I don't know what that means."

"It means I like women and there are far too many men in that room," he says, and his hand slips through her hair as he kisses her again. "Mostly it means I like you."

Eyes closed, Rachel breathes in, deep and shuddering. "Not tonight, Keith," she says, shaking her head. "This is too much tonight. Can you...can you maybe be a lesbian tomorrow? 'Cause I think I just had sex with four men, and I'm gonna need that tomorrow, but I just...can't do this tonight. I need to stand here and eat a bowl of cereal, and then tomorrow we can wake up and both be lesbians, okay?"

Keith's molars press together and he nods, or means to, before he turns away. He doesn't smoke, but he needs to get out of there, so he goes outside. His eyes never make it to the sky.


End file.
